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Clare, Family Solicitor

Category: Family Law

Satisfied Customers: 34888

Experience: I have been a solicitor in High Street Practise since 1985 and have specialised in Family Law for the last 10 years

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Mother (solicitor) did not disclose a substial inheritance

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Mother (solicitor) did not disclose a substial inheritance for 1 year until challenged by husbands solicitor, husband then incurred substial cost perusing her for varing her part of support order, she conceded at eleventh hou before going to court. She also misled husband solicitors as to her sons living arrangements(on a different occasion) he went to school in Winchester and lived with his grandmother for long periods. She declared he,their son lived with her. She passed on virtually none of the financial support (750£ per month) she received from ex husband to grandmother, his mother and a diary relating facts went missing after they colluded together. She is a solicitor and will never negate but reverts to the courts. Father once paid a few days late ,she got a court? Which cost him £50.surley this is not acting with the integrity solicitors should adhere to.

HiThank you for your question. My name is Clare and I will do my best to help you but I need some further information first.I am not sure what your question is - could you explain what it is that you would like to know?Clare

Question since she is threatening court again as I have severely reduced circumstances And wish to vary court order, is there a case to report her to ombudsman,for breaching the law or for bringing her profession into disrepute. Had I acted in the same fashion I would have been fined

My income is now and has been for over a year 50 percent of what it was, have, verified this with payslips ,therefore I need to reduce my maintanance costs to my son (I am not sure what if anything she contributes) I now also now have another son at university. I want to meet to discuss but she insists its back to court . But does this effect the answer to the question.

FYI She also lied about my sons home, he frequently stayed with my mother as he went to school in Winchester rather than Southampton where she lives. (My mother lives in Winchester). I didn't peruse it at the time for my sons sake . This has nothing to do with my first question but I am trying to give you an accurate picture.

HiYou can report her behaviour to the Law Society (Www.lawsociety.org.uk)if you wish although I doubt that they will take action on events which happened within the Family Court arena I am afraid - however I cannot guarantee they will take action.The Solicitors regulation Authority tend to deal with the client relationship so would not deal with this.I hope this is of assistance Clare

Clare ,I find it puzzling the law society would take a different view in the family arena especially , especially. When it is in this very arena, disclosure of changes of circumstances Must be disclosed immediately. But surely you most know that?????

Therefore I would like my questions opened up to other experts .Especially when you state 'you doubt they will take action' and then repeat you cannot guarantee.

To me a layman of course either the mother acted outside of the requirements specified by court order or she didn't. She clearly did and had I done so I wouldn't face a hefty fine . Or are you just telling me nicely solicitors can act differently to the rest of us. One would have hoped the penalty would be harsher as she knew exactly what she was doing, prote ting her own maintanance as my sons was not affected. Please can someone respond to my questions

Customer:replied 4 years ago.

Relist: Answer quality.The quality of the answer was ,poor English , it sounded more like a put off than accurate. Didn't refer to ombudsman as ombudsman, did refer to law society and twice suggested I was wasting my time. I have already asked Clare to open this question to others, but I am disturbed.

HiI am sorry for the delay in my response - my original response was in fact made between court cases and on my i-pad - a piece of equipment with which sadly I am not entirely competent.I an also sorry that you feel that I am "Putting you Off" - but the fact is that I do not think it is likely that you will get the response that you are hoping for.You are also under a misapprehension in thinking that this is a matter within the remit of the Ombudsman.The Ombudsman is there to deal with complaints arising out of a contractual relationship between a Solicitor and his or her client which has broken downDetails herehttp://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/consumer/common-questions.html#What_can_I_complain_aboutThis is not the position in your case.This person is your former wife and your argument is that her personal behaviour within the Family Law Arena brought the profession into disrepute.Of course if she has failed to comply with a Court Order then you have all the same options for enforcement that you say that she has used against you - with the added one that her failure to abide by a Court Order to the point that enforcement was required could indeed bring about professional embarrassment if reported However what happens within the Family Court is not public - it is private which means that you cannot use her actions in court against her - and you have already said that the evidence that you thought you had has gone.Has your ex behaved in an appropriate way - clearly not.Has she behaved in a way which if it had happened in public might bring the profession into disrepute - very possibly Is it possible for YOU to complain about her behaviour - yes but only to a limited extent relate only to the matter on which you can prove that she misled the court. You can try the SRA - details here - but as you see this is unlikely to be a matter they will get involved withhttp://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/no-investigation-policy.pageSo that leaves a letter to the Law Society.Reading all the links above should explain why I seemed somewhat negative.You are correct - solicitors cannot act in any way differently to any one else - but equally you can only use the same sanctions against them that can be used against everyoneClare

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